Writing Project #1: Rhetorical Analysis
English 105
The objective of this assignment is to enable you to write a wellconstructed
rhetorical analysis that makes a claim regarding
the rhetorical tools exhibited in a text. Your instructor will provide you with information on what specific text(s) you will use for
your analysis.
In a rhetorical analysis, you need to focus on some of the following aspects:
Contextualize a piece of writing (author, audience, and purpose)
Identify the structure of a piece of writing (chronological, cause/effect problem/solution, topical, etc)
Identify the rhetorical appeals of a piece of writing (logos, ethos, pathos)
Research Focus
Crafting an effective text calls for a clear understanding of the research process. For each unit over the course of the
semester, we will have a focus on various aspects of research, such as identifying sources, citing them, and incorporating
quotes or paraphrases into your text, among many other things. For the rhetorical analysis, we will focus on becoming
familiar with the following areas of research:
General library introduction
Specific information resources and retrieval tools
Introduction to using information responsibly while appropriately citing research
Knowledge of the detriments of plagiarism
Your essay should include the following parts:
Introduction: this is where you introduce the text you will analyze and let your readers know what your standpoint on this text
will be. Be sure to include an explicitly stated thesis.
Body:
Contextualize: who is the author, who is the audience, what is the purpose?
Identify the rhetorical appeals, and/or
Discuss the structure of the argument
Provide examples from the text that support your thesis
Remember to keep your analysis as objective and rational as possible
Conclusion: this is where you restate the claim you have made about the text and explain why your analysis supports that
claim.
Length: threefive
typed doublespaced
pages.